In 1960, when
Elvis returned to civilian life after
two years in the U.S. Army, Elvis asked Scotty to send his well-worn
56 J200 out to be refurbished. Scotty shipped
the guitar to Gibson in Chicago via O. K. Houck's and wrote to
Gibson
reps Gerry Woodworth and Clarence Havenga specifying the guitar was to be refinished, repaired
and his name inlaid on the fretboard. He also requested that they do
some additional inlay work on the front, not too elaborate but something
different, a design of their own discretion.

The
work wasn’t done in time for Elvis’ March 20th recording session in Nashville, so
this
new 1960 J-200N, serial number A32944, was shipped on March 18, 1960. The
guitar was invoiced to Scotty and at the time Gibson was completely out
of their #600 cases so shipped it with a #606 flannel lined case
instead. This was explained in a letter written to Chet Atkins and
the guitar was shipped to Scotty c/o Chet at RCA in Nashville (Studio
B). This may explain some of the confusion regarding the
serial numbers and the return of the original '56.

The
guitar looked almost identical to the 1956, red floral pick guard and all, except for
the Grover rotomatic tuners. Elvis kept this new one the rest of his life.
It can be seen in the 1968 TV special being
played by both he and Scotty and being played by friend Charlie Hodge in various Elvis concert
footage during the '70s. The guitar remains part of his collection
at Graceland to this day.